Philippines 2015 :)

After Christmas, I flew to the Philippines with my brothers and Sami. We spent a month wakeboarding at CWC Wake Park. Sami's sister, Bronwyn, flew over from Taiwan and spent the first week with us. Unfortunately we were greeted with lots of wind and rain so spent most of our first week in the cabin playing Uno cards and most nights ended up at Happy Endings bar. 

To pass the time while the weather was bad, we did a bit of sightseeing. We went to a market in the city central, spent many hours relaxing in the hot springs, shopping at the SM mall and trying out different foods. my favourite restaurant was "Take Me Out" with the most delicious burgers and tacos. Sami, Bronwyn and I decided to go out on a girl’s spa day. After being pampered , we ate schwarmas for lunch at a tiny little store and topped it off with Starbucks. Probably some of the best schwarmas I have had.

The weather improved in the second week and we were able to spend more time on the water. This is by far the best cable I have been to. There are so many features, so many new things you want to try, you can never get bored! We got up early most mornings to get the good water before the wind picked up in the afternoons. Some morning we would head down to the 2.0's before the full cable opened and do air trick sessions. Maxine and Jason encouraged me try my first s-bend. Maxine is one of the best riders in the world so it was awsome to get coaching from her. It’s always fun riding with other girls, especially when there is so much you want to learn from them. One of the highlights of my trip was hitting the hand rail at the plaza system. If it wasn't for jb who pushed me do it, I would never of hit it so THANK YOU JB! 

Jordan arrived towards the end of the second week and brought some sunshine with him. It was really nice to spend some time together. We all had alot of fun riding and filming. A week later, a typhoon hit the whole of the Philippines and we were once again stuck indoors playing Uno cards for the weekend. The one night I thought our roof was going to blow off but fortunately we were all safe haha. Sami and Christopher were due to leave on the Monday. All airports were closed and flights cancelled. Everyone was stressing that they were not going to be able to leave. Luckily for them, the storm cleared and they were able to fly out on time. 

We spent the last week doing lots of riding, filming and taco eating. I am really happy to have had the opportunity to meet so many new people. This trip was such an amazing experience and lots of good memories were made.  CWC - until next time! 

Thank you LiquidForce for my new 2015 setup for my trip! 

Bali <3

I'm back home after an amazing holiday in Bali. It was really special as I got to spend quality time with my dad and after 2 weeks, my best friend who i dont get to see often, came to visit. We did all sorts of exciting things like surfing, waterparks, snorkeling with turtels, lots of shopping and lots of tanning.  I can certainly say we travel well together. 

On this trip we discovered that we:

-are basically professional surfers

-have mad bargaining skills

-burn easily, tan easily, peel easily 

-love any kind of food that is bad for us

-eat alot of cheese and seaweed chips

-could spend every day on the beach

-have the best luck in the world

-are kareoke queens

-have completely different tastes

-enjoy cheesecake for breakfast

-dont say no to jolling and doing the wormy 

-do NOT see eachother enough

Thanks for an awesome trip and all the memories mare! xx

European and African Championships 2014

E&A boat champs was held in Montargil, Portugal last week. I drove to Portugal with Jordan and Andres from Xtreme Gene. The drive was super chilled, it took us about 5 hours. We stayed in a 5 star hotel along with all the other wakeboarders. The contest site was just across the road.

The conditions were perfect for the contest. Its was hot all week and not too windy. My practice run was real bad - the wake was almost as big as me !!! I struggled in qualifiers and got 4th place in my heat which meant i had to go to LCQ's where i got another chance to try make it through. Fortunately i won my LCQ heat and made it into finals!! I was first off the dock in finals and managed to get 3rd place overall which meant I won a bronze medal for South Africa :) I was over the moon ! Jordan managed to get a silver medal in both Junior Men wakeboard and wakeskate which is an amazing achievement! 

I was basically adopted by the Spanish team because I was the only competitor from South Africa :P Team Spain got 3rd place overall! They only had 6 riders and managed to get 5 podiums- very impressive. 

I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the last week of my trip. It was an awesome week with awesome people! I drove back to Marbella on Sunday afternoon with the Darwins and on Monday morning I was off the to the aiport to start my journey back to South Africa.

A big thank you to my sponsors - Roxy SA and LiquidForceSA

Xtreme Gene

I have spent this past month wakeboarding at Xtreme Gene. Its been really good to get some boat riding in as I rarely get the opportunity to do it back home. I could'nt have asked for a better way to spend the last month of my trip! I love this place!

So basically I've just been chilling out and having fun on the water. I spent a weekend in Seville with the Darwin's riding at Doublewake cable. Today I am off to Portugal for the European and African Championships. I will be spending a week there and will then be heading back home to South Africa. Its going to be sad to leave but I guess all good things come to an end. My time here has been awesome!

A special word of thanks to my sponsors - Roxy SA ,Liquidforce SA.  Also thanks to Xtreme-Gene and then last but not least - a huge thank you to the Darwin's - without you guys none of this would of been possible ♥

spanish nationals

Last week Friday I flew to Barcelona with the Darwin family for Spanish Boat Nationals. The contest site was about a 2 hour drive from Barcelona, close to Lleida. It was super windy and the water was choppy when we arrived. The boat wasn't in the water yet so we went into the little town and found a place to eat lunch. After lunch we went back to the lake and couple of us went out on the boat for a practice ride. After practice we headed back to our hotel for dinner.

We were up early for breakfast on Saturday morning. We then made our way to the lake. Qualifiers as well as finals were held on Saturday. The water was glassy when we arrived and managed to stay pretty flat all day. Marcus was first up in the boys division. He wasn't very happy with his qualifiers run but managed to step it up in the finals and claimed a 2nd place overall!  I competed in Open Ladies and came 1st in qualifiers which meant I got to go last off the dock for finals. I managed to get 1st place but couldn't claim the title becauseI am not from Spain. I didn't land everything I wanted to, but was still happy with my run :) Jordan killed Open Men qualifiers! During wakeskate finals- right before wakeboard finals- he fell and injured his leg. Lucky enough, he still managed to ride like a boss and win Open Men! He also got 3rd plan in Open Men wakeskate. 

On Sunday morning we packed and then headed to OCP in Barcelona. Marcus and I had a quick little shred before we had to go to the airport. Jordan and Alan flew to Poland for European and African champs and Suzy, Marcus and I flew back to Marbella. 

Barcelona bound!

Nuno, Jordan and I after practise

Comp day and the conditions were priime!

Before my run

Team Xtreme

Marcus with his new board at OCP

Once again, a special thank you to my sponsors: Roxy SA and LiquidForceSA

news update :)

I have been having an awesome time since Jordan and I left Barcelona on 4th June.  After missing the train and then spending 15 hours on the bus to Cordoba, we finally arrived at Xtreme-Gene.  I spent a week riding and site seeing with my mom (who came over for a visit),Suzy, Alan, Jordan and Marcus.

On Friday 13th, Suzy, my mom, Jordan and I headed off to Seville by train.  We hired bicycles and spent a few days checking out the city, culture and night life as well as shredding every day at DoublewakeCablepark.  It was super hot, reaching 40+ degrees most days.

On Sunday night we caught the bus back to Marbella.  The weather has been really good and I have been spending a lot of time at Wakeboardcentre Marbella.  I have also had some fun outings with my mom and  the Elizondo-Darwin family.

On 21st June, I took part int he Vans Best Trick contest which was held at Wakeboard Centre, Marbella.  It was a fun contest and I managed to take first place which I was really happy about.

Last weekend, (28th June, also at Wakeboard Centre, Marbella) was the Superdry Best Trick contest and pool party.  I was happy to take 1st place again - landing a toeside backroll.  I was super stoked and am really enjoying my wakeboarding :) :)

We are off to Xtreme-Gene again today for the weekend, and then it's off to Barcelona next weekend for the Spanish Boat Nationals.

Thanks again to my sponsors - Roxy SA and Liquid Force for keeping me clothed and on the water !!!

Doublewake Cablepark, Seville

Vans Best Trick Contest

Vans Best Trick Contest

Superdry Best Trick Contest

OCP Barcelona || 1st Anniversary contest

I have been in Spain for 6 weeks already.  It's been awesome.  After spending a month at Xtreme-Gene, followed by a trip to Seville and Double Wakepark, and a few weeks at Marbella Wakeboard Centre, Jordan and I headed off to Barcelona last week by train.  We spent most of last week riding at OCP (Olimpic Cable Park).  It's a super fun cable with loads of awesome obstacles.  

This past weekend, I competed in a contest at Olimpic Wake Park.  It was the cables 1st year anniversary.  International Fox team riders, Bob Soven, Shaun Murray and Reed Hanson were the judges.  Bob Soven and Shaun Murray also did a pro show to entertain the crowd. 

There was an expression session as well as a kicker contest and you could choose to do one or the other.   I took part in the expression session.  Basically how it worked was, you had 20 minutes to complete 3 laps. You could do whatever you wanted to do in your 3 laps - airtricks and obstacles.  I managed to win the expression session which I was really happy about :)

Jordan took part in the best trick kicker contest and landed some sick tricks, but it just wasn't enough to put him through to the finals. It was a fun contest and I was really happy with my riding.

Every day is a good day here in Barcelona !!!!! :)

Thanks to Roxy SA for keeping my wardrobe stocked and to Liquidforce SA for keeping me on the water.:)

Leaving Marbella for Barcelona

OCP

Podium

cable nationals

Things have been really hectic the past few weeks with all the planning for my overseas trip.  In between all the planning and training for SA Nationals, I was lucky enough to do a film shoot which hopefully will be released soon. 

This past weekend - 12th and 13th April, was SA Cable Nationals which was held at StokeCity Wakepark in Johannesburg.  Unfortunately during practice on Friday, I pulled a muscle between my ribs on my back.  I was unable to ride qualifiers on Saturday as it was really sore.  I was prepared to  just do a lap so that I could qualify for finals on Sunday should I be OK to ride, but after discussions with the association, it was felt that it wasn't necessary as I was there and ready.  We managed to find a chiropractor who was willing to  see me on Saturday afternoon.  She massaged the muscle and did ultrasound.

When I woke up on Sunday, it felt a little better but was still quite painful.  I decided that I was going to try and ride and just see how it goes. 

I was super stoked on getting 1st place and the SA champ title for 2014 !!.  Jordan won the Pro Men division, so the two of us flew off to Spain on Sunday night after a very successful weekend.

A big thank you to my sponsors for all their support.

boat nationals 2014

SA Champs was held at Misverstand at the end of March 2014. We were greeted with perfect conditions all weekend. As usual, we had practise on Friday afternoon, Saturday was qualifiers and finals were held on Sunday. 

I managed to win qualifiers on Saturday but in the finals on Sunday i came second to a rider from the Netherlands. This means that i still got the SA champ title. My whole family came along to support my younger brother and i. He competed in the Junior men division and landed his first invert in his final run on Sunday which put him in 3rd place. 

All in all it was a fun weekend and a good way to end the boat season :) Thanks to my sponsors - Roxy and Liquid Force , for all the support! 

after my final run

1st-  Loes Linders
2nd- Melissa Colborne
3rd- Deidre van Niekerk